Wage Growth

Didn't share enough beans.

 

Charge out rates are wildly different from their wage, I wouldn't get out of bed for that either - you'd have to kick it over to me.

 

True . In saying that do you know many qualified plumbers on a wage less than $75,000?

 

Award rate for a qualified tradesperson is roughly $28.65/hr + allowances - Linky

 

Every quote I’ve ever had In Brisbane

Plumber $90hr
Tiler $60-$90sqm
Builder $60hr
Even a mate of mine that does me plumbing favours is $50hr cash.
Plasterer $65hr

 

a simple google should return plenty of results,
our unemplyment is close to all time low (especially mel/syd as WA is mudding the over all figure)
Australia Unemployment Rate | 2019 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast
https://www.rba.gov.au/chart-pack/factors-prod-labour-mkt.html / go to labour market view

 

These are not wage rates they are charge out rates.

Huge difference as they include overheads:

• Super, holiday leave loading
• daily travel allowance
• workers comp
• public holidays
• sick leave
• Inclement weather etc

Other recoverables - office overheads including public liability, rent, motor vehicle etc

 

And some of these jobs you might only get 5 or 6 hours worth of work for the day on one or two jobs..
So unless you can get small jobs at the last minute , your day is done.

 

Be careful what you wish for.

Back in the day when wage increases were high, inflation was also high, forcing the RBA to keep interest rates high.

What's the point of a strong wage increase that gets eaten up by high inflation and high interest rates anyway?

The ideal situation would be for you personally to have a high income increase but low inflation around you.

 

I do believe people deserve an increase in-line with inflation for churning out the same work otherwise each year they are taking a pay cut and that’s not fair.

However my argument is how many people are accepting poor wage growth or career progression due to work/life balance. I know first hand a lot of people in this boat. My close work colleague is a genius developer but he HAPPILY accepts a salary well under 50k of what he could very easily get. Simply because he is afforded incredible work/life balance.

The other thing never spoken about in wage growth discussions is the fact everyone did get an additional .5 increase and soon to be 2.5 alone in their super. I know it’s not much but it needs to be considered.

 

I know a few cleaners that started like that ,..Most from SEA who came to Australia in leaking boats in the mid 1970's and starting with SFA ..They just saw the freedom that this country offered and dismissed all the claims of conspiracy theorists and worked several jobs per day..One family i know who bought flood land out the back of Inala and turned it into a market garden,then went into butcher shops who their daughters now run while the husbands work 14 hours a day..
A good man like yourself would be able to bring the confidence back,just be careful the Lady may have better ring craft skills then yourself..

 

Only if assett are overinflated.
Back when I was in my 30s I'd take wage growth any day , even when paying 8-9% interest rates .
That extra 1-2% in wage growth every year really starts to add up after 10 years.
And at 10 years that first morgage was smashed.
Wage growth also helps everyone in the workforce, young people renting , older people that have paid of a morgage and retirees.
Not just a select group .
Eventually even the young cannot afford property .

 

Are you telling me that every time a business owner interviews a potential employee, they take the above in consideration?
Besides, that's not what i'm debating, i'm debating the merit of getting a wage rise just because another year lapsed at the same workplace. Unless you are more productive or you are bringing more value to the Business, you shouldn't expect to have a pay rise other than CPI.
That's how i see it and i am a PAYG employee.

 

Except for large portions of the workforce there has been below CPI increases for years as shown before with wages in real terms flat since 2010.

Low inflation for discretionary items sure but essential services have been outpacing CPI recently which puts pressure on family budgets and leaves less to go on discretionary spending.

I dont think anyway is really complaining about not getting 3% pa every year, most would be happy matching inflation.

 

How about salaried employees working free overtime? Plenty in normal jobs working 40-50 hour weeks for no overtime. Theres 10 hours worth of value brought to the company not paid for

 

That's the problem with the $90.00 per hour as others have said ,once you break down all the costs some would be lucky even after the ATO income based claims break even at $38--45 an hour..
Even then when a plumber upgrades to working for flash in the pan developers ,and they stall the payments and the bill is over 40k and they offer 20k because of the threat of legal action wiwo with only your labour costs..

 

oh Sure, not complaining about it at all. I'm just sharing my experience for what it costs me each time

All though I did complain once, had 2 builders in for 4.5 days not long ago. General stuff, fitting doors, windows, sheeting, etc. Got the invoice for $12k. I supplied all materials. How 2 guys that put in 35hrs (actually less than 30hrs with all breaks etc) can amount to $12k in labour only is beyond me. $170hr if you break it down. Learned to always get fixed quotes after that experience.

 

Sure, some have done incredibly well. And they are an inspiration.

It's all about the mind set I suppose.

Today when I spoke to the cleaner, I could tell she is hell bent on being a cleaner.
Her husband is a cleaner. They have done nothing but cleaning for the last 20 years since arriving in Australia. Their second jobs were cleaning jobs. Gawd her house must be spotless.

All she really needs is a set of dentures. I'm going to give a hint by offering her some gummy denture candy I used to eat at school.

 

That’s me! Lots of of unpaid overtime - but the organisation I work for never says ‘have a half day tomorrow in compensation’, doesn’t even put on a nice free xmas lunch (we get a measly $20 subsidy towards an Xmas lunch so compensation for about 20 minutes of unpaid work at my normal hourly rate.

 

Very common knowledge that overheads are about 45% ontop of the wage paid.
We charge anywhere from $120 to $150 for project management and between about $60 to $80 is the wage.
For tradies, $75 to $110 generally. So wages between about $40 to $60 for senior qualified tradies.